A blog by students at the University of Portsmouth

Personal Statements and such …

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind, crazy, non-stop, action packed blur.

The difference between being a second year student compared to last year is becoming apparent, but in a positive way. We are starting to have more lectures on reflection on one’s self and one’s ability. For me this has never been a problem, as I tend to over-think everything. However, these sessions have helped me to do this in a healthy way. Plus, we have been assigned an online portfolio to create. We also did this last year, but it isn’t until now that I really understood why.

As a future health care professional CPD (continuing professional development) will be an ongoing process for the rest of my career. Just as many people are slaving away over their personal statements at the moment, I am creating a portfolio of my achievements online.

It is always difficult to sell yourself without sounding manufactured. “I am a team player”, “I am caring”, we’ve all written it on job applications or personal statements (guilty!). But what do we have to show for this?

What I have taken away from these lectures, and is my top tip anyone in the position of personal statement writing, or portfolio creating, is back it up with evidence. How are you caring? Give examples. Have you done voluntary work? Were you a mentor for younger students at school? Once you dig deep you may realise that you’ve done so much more than you first thought.

It is a really positive feeling to reflect on your achievements. It makes selling yourself much easier when you’ve sold yourself to yourself!